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FanFiction:The Art of the Hunt/Season 2/Chapter 8 - The Caves of Gathib
Dawn was breaking as the hunters all got up, one by one, from their resting place amidst the stones. The stars were twinkling away into immeasurable depths, wells of time in which the world was forgotten, and the moon had set against the western mountains. The sun was approaching quickly, and already on the higher northern dune a red shining was lit. The desert was coming to life, and soon it would be very hot again here. The hunters lifted their packs and set them in the small wagon they had built days before. It was now a week since they had set out from Tanjia, and the weary days of June were upon them. They headed towards the cave's entrance, to the northwest of their position. It was not a long trek; the cave was not even half a mile away, and there was an abundance of hard stones beneath their feet to walk and drive their wagon along. So it was that they came to the entrance of a cave with a carved door that lay thrown aside and scored with black runes. |< /-\ |-| |= Taka, who spoke several languages, examined them for several minutes with the morning sun on the inscribed stone door. At length he spoke. "It says cave, cavern. The rest, I cannot tell. It is written in an ancient mode of Old Moga speech and script, and few now know that tongue. It seems this cave was once known to people, and was taken from them. Shall we go?" He said. The hunters looked around doubtfully, as if by some power they could will the monster Yuki had seen lying about the valley to show itself again. But there was no use. Slowly, each of the hunters agreed: there was no choice for them now. They must go forth, into the deeping shadow and likely doom. Taka, a man true to his grit, was the first to go. Behind him followed Brutus and Ali, Noami and Reia, Katrina, Yuki, Jeren, Calli, and Gamor. Gamor turned, for a moment, and looked at the morning light on the desert sands. It seemed to stretch on forever, as if no end could come to these lands. Faced now with the choice between the shadow of the caves and the enduring heat of the desert, he wished he could cross the desert all alone and without water, if need be. With a heaving sigh, he turned again and went into the cave. Taka, wishing for none to follow them, lit torches and pulled the door across the cave - with the runes pointing inwards. "Better to have darkness and few interruptions than little light and the curious guest." He said, wisely. "Yet a clear escape may brighten hearts," Responded Jeren, with equal wisdom. Taka barely acknowledged him, confident in his choice and willing to do no more. Jeren grimaced and walked onwards, guarding the rear of the column with Yuki while Taka strode forwards towards the head, where he would guide them with Katrina. Yuki began to tell Jeren about the monster she had seen, to make conversation. Further up the column, Noami and Reia chatted nonchalantly about the weather and better days to come. Gamor and Calli were having a unique discussion about the complexities of herbal teas. Brutus and Ali discussed baby names. They walked in a line, each discussing things entirely irrelevant to their situation - all of them under the illusion of safety for a while. Given that the Gathib caves stretched far underground and were usually quite cool, this was not entirely false - no desert creatures lived in the upper halls: cold, dark places, with no light and no heat to warm a cold-blooded animal's body and no sun to nurture any plants. As the hunters went down, the sand gradually shifted from a shining colour that might have been white if shown upon to a darker shade of tan and eventually brown. Soon enough, after they had marched for what they assumed had been an hour, the sand gave way to rocky bits of relatively flat sandstone. After that, they found little sand, and indeed near what appeared to be a clearing in the land above, the ground was covered in a dark soil. When at last they had reached this firm-soiled clearing and looked up, they were not dismayed; the sun was not yet shining over them, and the sky bore no signs of afternoon. They had calculated correctly: it was morning yet. They smiled and laughed and sat themselves in various positions around the crevice shining light into this dismal hole. On the west and slightly north, there sat a pathway leading again into the darkness, but they did not trouble about that now. Katrina and Taka talked for a while about the map. "Katrina, there is an issue here. What shall be done after -" Taka stopped short. He shivered slightly and continued. "- after the beast is slain, I mean." "Well, if it is indeed our quarry, we will summon a guild airship to transport us back to Guild Headquarters back in Tanjia at Loc Lac City." Katrina answered, in a very clinical and almost arrogant tone. Taka seemed annoyed, but did not say anything to reveal his emotions if he were. "Is there any doubt about our mission, then?" He answered, homing on on her doubt. She shifted uncomfortably on her seat and gave Taka a sidelong look. It was that of a predator whose prey has just taunted it, daring it to make a move. "Yes, there is doubt. But only reasonable doubt. No one knew what that monster was and no one drew a picture. We're assuming this is it based on what the eyewitnesses say, and its behaviour, but we do not know." Katrina answered, in a much more concerned voice. Taka mused upon this for a long while. After a good deal of thought, he came to agree with Katrina: there should be plenty of doubt as to the surety of their mission. They went to a fight with a beast far outmatching their abilities in whatever case, and there was nothing to stop this now. They could not turn back, and the monster lay ahead of them. Taka shuddered. It had not occurred fully to him the degree of a fight to which they went. One after another, all the hunters fell into a light nap. They were still weary from the previous night's endeavours, and in their mind the danger of the Silver Magala. Beyond the shadow, perhaps, it lay there still, biding its time, waiting for doom. The hunters were not reassured. They all were awake around the second hour after noon. Taka called them up, one by one, with stern words. They were up and a small warming device hunters carried with them was used to brew a pot of coffee for the hunters, who remained tired even after waking. They all took a bit in their auxiliary canteens and went on their way. The darkness stretched for what seemed like miles ahead of them. They knew now that they were nearing the shadow of the mountains, and were steadily moving father down - soon, they would be in the Gah'ran Canyon, a long, dark ravine that stretched from the edge of the Sandy Plains to the very southern end of the desert, where the land leveled out and the river at its bottom grew large. Near the mountains and middle of the desert's western expanse, the canyon was wide and in it were several springs and a trickling brook running from the Oasis in Loc-Lac City. Its banks extended incredibly far from west to east for a desert canyon, and it was sheltered from the sun on both sides by upheavals of stone. On the western side, there was also a large cave, dug into the side of the canyon by what started as the outlet of a small mountain spring. This is the cave to which they would be heading. Local reports, as indicated by the Tanjia authorities, had indicated a mysterious presence that issued from this side of the canyon, and whatever the monster was, it had seemed to have no love for light: it destroyed the spotlights and fires of the Hunting Ground before anything else. This all pointed them towards this mysterious, previously unexplored cave system in the side of Gah'ran Canyon. After an hour of steady walking, they came to the eastern side of the canyon. The sloped sides of this part of the ravine were bathed in a golden light, highlighting the limestone and sandstone that lay exposed to the elements here. The golden light of afternoon was upon them, but their quarry lay now directly ahead of them. Across the way and not a quarter of a mile north lay the black entrance to the dark cavern, from which a stream issued. The hunters looked around. Taka had never been one for climbing mountains, and most of the others, while they had grown up in the Tanjia Mountains, were not accustomed to deserts. The only one who had both grown up in hot lands and had the skill of climbing was Yuki, who volunteered to lead them down the slope. Yuki took the front of the column and lead them down. Though it looked as though it expanded for endless ages onwards, it was actually quite a short way to the bottom. They walked for perhaps twenty minutes before they were able to cross the remnants of an old bridge that had fallen into ruin in the passing of ages. By this time, night had settled over the canyon and the western side was shrouded in a black darkness that enveloped the hunters. The eastern side's edge glowed with a red fire, creating an effect the hunters had difficulty describing with any words other than these: "It was like seeing the world catch fire without any tongues, and seeing it all disappear like a shower in the desert." The hunters took a rest and ate, such as they could, without fire or drink. Some took a sip from the stream that lay at the bottom, for it was pure and clear, and no impurities were found in the crystal springs of Gah-Ahranya, Desert-Folk's Oasis. Soon enough, though, they were up again. They continued walking. Within the hour, they had come to the edge of the cave. Though the sky still hung overhead with a colour that could have been described as a navy blue, the cave lay dark ahead, and no light issued from it - unless, perhaps, they perceived from beyond the mortal coil the glimmer of spirits long deceased in this evil place that lay before them. They all lit torches and proceeded into the darkness. They followed no true order, with the hunters proceeding quietly into the deepening shade without any line being necessary. At whiles, Taka or Jeren would raise their hand to sudden alertness and the hunters would stand perfectly still, completely silent, waiting for some sudden change in their environment. But none came, and so they came, in time, to a great clearing. There, far below, in the depths of the darkness, lay a figure bathed in a dull silver light. It seemed as though every eye viewed it in a different sheen; to some it seemed to be a dull grey colour, with little shine but for the outline of the great beast. To others, nothing had seemed so brilliant as the luster that this creature possessed. None were unmoved. Brutus, however, was not taken with it for so long. "It's not natural. Either way, I'll be damned before I sit here and look at a wyvern like it's a piece of art. Let's either wait until daylight or take the fight to it right now," he said, without hiding the irritation in his voice. Taka instantly agreed with him. "It is no good staying here," he said, "and Brutus is right. It is not natural. I have read about the ancient Dragons which could put a spell on unwary travellers. Let us remove ourselves from this precipice, at any rate. I spotted a deviation from the opening not far back. Let us go there." He finished, slowly walking backwards and leading them back to the small cavern to the right and north of their entry point. There they convened. "There is a fissure in the roof above, I am sure. The creature is too big to crawl through any of the passages we have seen, and in any case, it is not a ground-dweller. It has wings and flies. The day may bring new counsel," Taka said to the group as they sat themselves amidst the tumbled stones. Katrina looked doubtful as she warmed a can of soup with a very small heating module. She looked up. "You all remember how much strength this monster had, right? How powerfully it flew? That thing is right outside." She said, looking down. For the first time since they had began, Noami seriously questioned the quest. She sighed heavily and leaned on Reia in a gesture of weariness. Reia offhandedly held her close with one lightly-armored arm. "You guys realize there's a good chance we aren't getting out of this alive, right?" Noami asked, in playful words but with all serious tones in her voice. Ali shot her a dark look, and Reia looked down. Gamor leaned back on the side of the cavern and closed his eyes. The rest of the group listened attentively for the next response. "We're going to try," Said an unlikely voice - Ali. She leaned forward and looked hard at Noami. "It's pretty likely that we go to some doom, sure. But it isn't confirmed. We don't know that. We'll see tomorrow. Get some rest before worry kills you." She continued, and leaned back. With that, the rest of the group also took rest. It was a chill night, for the desert is ever an unforgiving place and even at night, its extremes are felt in the skin of those who journey there. The hunters slept as best they could and awoke with fell hearts and grim faces the next morning. ---- To be continued in FanFiction:The Art of the Hunt/Season 2/Chapter 9 - Silver Magala ---- Category:Fan Fiction